Unitarian Universalist religious education is wide-ranging.  UU youth are introduced to many faith traditions, supported in formulating their own beliefs, and urged to respect what others believe. Actually, all UUs, young and old, are encouraged to look for wisdom beyond what’s immediately available.

This approach is illustrated in a story about a group of adherents from different religions who were arguing about God, the afterlife, and other theological questions–each defending different answers.  Whenever one said, “This is the truth,” another replied “No, that’s wrong; listen to me!”

To resolve their disputes, they asked a respected elder whose answers were correct.  Instead of choosing, he provided an eye-opening experience.

He had them put on blindfolds, and took them to an elephant pen.  He asked each to touch one of the animals and describe it to him. He put one participant at the elephant’s head; another touched an ear, and others touched the elephant’s s tusks, trunk, side, legs, and tail.

The one who touched the head said, “Oh my, this animal is like a large waterpot.” “No,” countered the ear-toucher, “That’s wrong; it’s like a flat basket.”

Each of the others insisted upon a description based on his own limited experience.  The tusk-toucher said the animal is “Like the sharp end of a plow.”  The trunk-toucher retorted, “What? It’s like a giant snake.”  The side-toucher insisted, “It’s like a big crib full of wheat.”  The leg-toucher said, “Absurd, it’s a thick pillar.” And the tail-toucher added “Nonsense, it’s a thin rope.”

The sage told the seekers to remove their blindfolds and see that each had touched a different part of the same animal.  He explained, “You all were partially correct in your answers, yet none of you was fully right.  From your respective positions, you could only know a portion of the truth.  Why quarrel over what none of you could be sure of?  Better to be humble about what you know and learn what you can from each other.”